Page 72 of Need You
Delaney didn’t bother telling her she was just playing until she got her mojo back. Taking a detour, she went to Sweet Stems and had Foster create an arrangement for her. The house could use some fresh flowers and it just so happened that his shop was next door to the police station. A coincidence, Delaney told herself.
“How you going to carry that all home?” Foster asked while Delaney explored the store, which had so many pretty things, she didn’t know where to look first.
“Good question. I hadn’t thought of that.”
He went to the back of the shop and returned with a market basket.
“Thank you, Foster. I’ll return it on my next trip into town.”
“No worries. I’ve got plenty.”
They both turned to stare out the storefront window when they heard engines outside and watched a few satellite news trucks jockey for position in front of Glory Junction PD.
“They must be here for the press conference,” Foster said.
She craned her neck, hoping to see Colt in the gathering crowd of reporters, but there was no sign of him. It was too early, she supposed.
Delaney rushed home so she could put everything away and get some work done in time to watch the conference on television. Instead of sketching, she wound up playing with her new shades, repeatedly making them go up and down.
At six, before Deb got there, she turned on a local station. The press conference was at the top of the newscast. In front of the police station Colt and a line of city officials stood behind the mayor. Pond told the cameras that the little boy was home safe with his parents and doing well. Then he launched into a gratuitous speech about “his” town and how it pulled together in times of crises.
“Could you be any more smarmy?” Delaney muttered at her flat screen.
He thanked the Glory Junction Volunteer Search and Rescue team, praising it to the moon, and glossed over the role Colt and the police department had played in finding the boy. According to Boden, it had been Colt who’d actually rescued the child. Delaney wanted him to get the credit.
She waited for Colt to speak, but the mayor never called him to the podium, hogging the spotlight until the press conference was over and the newscast moved on to footage of a wildfire on the Central Coast.
Delaney flipped through the channels, catching the tail end of the conference on other networks. Same thing: Pond’s smug face filled the screen. A knock came at the door and she got up to get it.
Deb carried two bottles of wine in. “Sustenance,” she said, and peered past the foyer into the great room. “Wow. Fabulous place.”
“Thanks. Let me turn off the TV.” She took the bottles from Deb, dropped them off in the kitchen, and proceeded to the entertainment center.
“The press conference?” Deb continued to take in the house, stopping in front of Delaney’s favorite painting—a Jared Javitz oil she’d paid a pretty penny for.
“Yeah. The mayor seems to have left out the part that Colt was the one who found and rescued the boy.”
“I’m not surprised. The man’s an egomaniac.” She turned and assessed Delaney. “You’re interested in Colt, aren’t you?”
“Me?” Delaney stuttered. “Why would you think that?”
“All signs point that way. I can’t blame you—something about those Garner men.” Her lips pulled up on one side but she still looked sad.
“Nope,” Delaney lied. “We’re just friends.”
Deb continued to measure her, then sighed. “You’re better off. Colt never got over Lisa.”
Delaney suspected that she was right.
* * *
That had certainly been interesting. If Colt hadn’t known better, he would’ve thought Pond had run the entire search and rescue operation on his own.
“What a nut sack,” Jack whispered as the two of them walked inside the building together.
“Hey, at least the boy’s safe and sound. Let Pond get his rocks off talking to a bunch of reporters. Anyone with a lick of sense knows how these rescues work. I’m just happy he gave credit to the volunteers.”
“Who was that guy with him?”
